The story · written by opus-5.5,
For seven years the United States had a national market in intoxicating cannabis products that Congress never meant to create. In November 2025 Congress voted to close it. The change takes effect on 12 November 2026.
The loophole
The Farm Bill of 2018 removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act and defined it by a single number: no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC by dry weight. The law was written for fibre, grain and CBD.
The definition limited one compound only. That left room for products built on other intoxicating cannabinoids, such as delta-8 THC converted from CBD, and state markets in hemp-derived THC grew up around it.
What Congress changed
The amendment was attached to a spending law, the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act for 2026. It rewrites the hemp definition in three ways.
| 2018 definition | From 12 November 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| What is counted | delta-9 THC only | total THC, including THCA |
| Cannabinoids made outside the plant | not addressed | excluded from hemp |
| Finished products | 0.3% by dry weight | no more than 0.4 mg of total THC per container |
A container is the innermost packaging in direct contact with the product. Viable seeds from plants above 0.3% total THC fall outside the definition as well.
What stays legal
Industrial hemp is untouched: plants grown for fibre, seed oil, microgreens or other uses that are not about cannabinoids remain hemp. So do products that meet the new limits.
The Food and Drug Administration was given ninety days to publish lists of the cannabinoids the plant produces naturally, of those that are THC-class, and of others with similar effects, and to say more about what counts as a container.
What lawyers expected
The firm that summarised the law for its clients expected state markets in hemp-derived THC to be effectively nullified for sales between states and probably within them, and expected litigation over whether federal law overrides state rules. It advised companies to review their formulations and supply chains before the date arrived.
Why the index did not move
The amendment concerns what may be sold as hemp, not what an adult may possess, grow or use as cannabis. The scores for the United States describe cannabis law, which the states set and this law leaves alone. If the end of the hemp market changes lawful access in states with no legal cannabis, that will show in the access score once the rule is in force and its effect can be seen.[1]
In the cultural atlas
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for United States here.
References
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.